The beacons were five million candlepower, and rotated six times a minute. The spacing was closer in the mountains, and farther apart in the plains. However, their effectiveness was limited by visibility and weather conditions.Ģ4 inches (610 mm) diameter rotating beacons were mounted on 53-foot (16 m) high towers, and spaced ten miles apart. The lighted Airway Beacons were a substantial navigation aid in an era prior to the development of radio navigation. In 1933, the Transcontinental Airway System totaled 1500 beacons, and 18000 miles In 1927, the lighted airway was complete between New York City and Salt Lake City, Los Angeles to Las Vegas, Los Angeles to San Francisco, New York to Atlanta, and Chicago to Dallas, 4121 miles in total. With a June 1925 deadline, the 2,665 mile lighted airway was completed from New York to San Francisco. Eventually, there were 284 beacons in service. By eliminating the transfer of mail to rail cars at night, the coast to coast delivery time for airmail was reduced by two business days. The first nighttime airmail flights started on July 1, 1924. īy the end of the year, the public anticipated anchored lighted airways across the Atlantic, Pacific, and to China. Lighted emergency airfields were also funded along the route every 15–20 miles.Ĭonstruction pace was fast, and pilots wishing to become airmail pilots were first exposed to the harsh wintertime work with the crews building the first segments of the lighting system. It was situated in the middle of the airmail route to enable aircraft to depart from either coast in the daytime, and reach the lighted airway by nightfall. The first segment built was between Chicago and Cheyenne, Wyoming. It was managed by the Bureau of Standards Aeronautical Branch. The lighted airway was proposed by National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), and deployed by the Department of Commerce. In 1923, the United States Congress funded a sequential lighted airway along the transcontinental airmail route.
1928 Commemorative Beacon on Sherman Hill
0 kommentar(er)
